<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Pour Me A Drink by midnightmorningcoffee</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24363511">Pour Me A Drink</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightmorningcoffee/pseuds/midnightmorningcoffee'>midnightmorningcoffee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Sweethearts, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Fluff without Plot, Love at First Sight, Rey is an Art Teacher, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also Hux is Irish, also Hux is a sweetheart because I said so, ben is a bartender, high school sweethearts, they will probably adopt a dog too</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:22:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24363511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightmorningcoffee/pseuds/midnightmorningcoffee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben Solo and Rey Johnson have been best friends since age 5. Set in present day Indianapolis; Ben is a bartender and Rey is an art teacher who paints in her spare time. They are very happy and very in love, yay! </p><p>This is 100% fluff without a bit of plot to be found but there are some great cocktail recipes so there's that! *throws confetti* *makes martini*</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux/Phasma, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Katy Perry? Really? Again?”</p><p>Ben shrugged from behind the bar, wiping out the inside of an old fashioned glass, adding it to the gleaming stack on the shelf.</p><p>“It’s what the Thursday night crowd likes.”</p><p>Hux shook his head.  “Americans.” </p><p>Ben knew by the tone of his friend’s voice he had reached the <em>wee ol’ Irishman</em>, Lucky Charms puns phase of drunk.  Hux’s accent always got thicker, his words louder, his jokes worse the more he drank and tonight was no exception.</p><p>He came to the bar where Ben worked every Thursday night or “the new Friday” as everyone at his job insisted on calling it. He had nearly lost it at his desk the first time he heard someone say it. It was probably Karen from Finance. He couldn’t stand Karen.</p><p>“Fucking cubical worker bees,” Hux scoffed, seemingly oblivious that he was one of those fucking cubical worker bees himself.</p><p>“What is it you do again?” Ben asked him, pulling an order from the computer. He gave it a quick glance, placing the paper print out on the counter in front of him. Two gin martinis, house special, no olives.</p><p>Hux made a face across the bar, the bottle of his dark beer raised to his lips.</p><p>“You know I’m a financial analyst, how many times do I have to tell you?”</p><p>Ben looked up, eyebrows raised, the edges of his palms on the corner of the bar. “As many times as it takes for me to understand what it is you do?”</p><p>Hux laughed. He shook his head. “You’re lucky Benny Boy.”</p><p><em>Benny Boy. Uh oh. He really was drunk</em>.</p><p>Ben refilled Hux’s water, sliding the glass between his friend’s elbows.</p><p>“Oh? Why’s that?”  Ben picked up two cocktail shakers, pouring 3 oz. of gin without a measuring cup in each, using just one hand to hold up both bottles between his thumb and fingers, eyeing his pour until it was exact.</p><p>Hux watched in wonder. “Because you can do stuff like <em>that</em>!”</p><p>He was pointing at Ben putting down the bottles of gin, grabbing two bottles of orange bitters; leaving generous drops in both cocktail shakers between his pointer and middle finger.</p><p>Ben laughed. “Anyone can make a drink.”</p><p>Hux nearly slammed his beer bottle down on the top of the bar, righteous indignation at his friend belittling himself. His eyes were closed. He was shaking his head slowly back and forth.</p><p>“You don’t understand. Making a drink is a <em>skill</em>, a <em>talent</em>. You are doing the Lord’s Work; providing nectar from the Gods. All I do is look at spreadsheets all day and make pie charts for the idiots who don’t understand line graphs.”  </p><p>Ben smirked at him. “And collect a six figure salary.” Ben gave his friend a pouty face, bottom lip stuck all the way out. “Sounds rough, Huxtable.”</p><p>Hux opened his eyes, draining the rest of his beer from its bottle. “You know I hate that nickname. Especially now!”  </p><p>Ben nodded, dumping ice cubes into the cocktail shakers, slamming the tops closed and pushing them down again with his palm just in case. “With good reason. Sorry.”</p><p>Hux sighed, defeated.  “See, now you’ve made me feel all guilty for correcting you. It’s those goddamn puppy eyes.” He motioned for another beer. Ben ignored him. “You know what you’re doing. You always do.”</p><p>Ben laughed, shaking his head, lifting both shakers above his body, one in each hand as he shook them with all his might. A group of young women at the bar stopped mid-conversation to watch Ben in action, his black V-neck t-shirt rising to reveal the curve of his hip bones.</p><p>He set the shakers back down on the bar top, sliding over two martini glasses and pulling out an orange from the bowl in front of him in near unison.</p><p>“Aren’t your hands freezing?” Hux asked watching him work.</p><p>Ben nodded. “Sure, but you get used to it.” He smiled as he filled each glass, a thin layer of chipped ice layering the top of each drink. “It’s better than guitar string scars and drumstick blisters.”</p><p>Hux made a noise in the back of his throat. “Thank you for reminding me you were in a kick ass band in High School and college, really, that’s great.”</p><p>“We even toured!” Ben goaded him, peeling off two delicate orange slices for the rim of the glasses.</p><p>“I know! Opened for Blink 182, ya bastards!”</p><p>Ben slid the completed drinks across the bar for Rose to pick up and take to one of her tables. He turned around, punching buttons on the computer screen, moving onto the next drink already.</p><p>“Do you miss wearing all that eyeliner and those skinny jeans?”</p><p>Ben hummed as he grabbed a Tom Collins glass from the cabinet above him.</p><p>“How do you know I don’t still wear both of those things?”</p><p>Hux opened his mouth for a witty comeback but suddenly realized he didn’t have a replacement beer.</p><p>“Solo…you’re slacking.” He held up his empty bottle.</p><p>Ben shook his head.</p><p>“No, I’m being a good friend.” He motioned to the water Hux hadn’t touched.</p><p>“Drink up, buttercup.”</p><p>Hux made a grumbling noise under his breath but he complied, finishing the pint of water in one long gulp. He set the glass back down on the bar in triumph.</p><p>“No rush, I’ll wait,” He waved his hand in Ben’s direction.</p><p>The bar was hopping per usual for a Thursday evening. It really was the unofficial start to the weekend, no matter how much Hux hated it. Ben didn’t mind being busy, it’s why he chose to work the Thursday, Friday, Saturday shifts. He brought home more than enough to cover his bills in tips alone and then some. He knew if a Bachelorette party came to the bar he could bring home $500, maybe more from that alone. Plus he felt better when the bar was full; the night went by faster and he liked working with his hands.</p><p>Ben tried to give his customers more than a typical bar experience while they were there. He made drinks off the menu and all of his regulars knew just what to ask for. He kept the bar fully stocked just for them. Some nights it was just gin and tonics and beer, but most nights it was people who had sought out the bar for one of his infamous cocktails.</p><p>Everyone in the Indianapolis area knew to come to Ben’s bar for a good, curated drink with a side of conversation about anything ranging from sports to what books they had read lately to what gin was the best price point for mixing vs. sipping.</p><p>The clientele tended to lean more female when he worked, something Ben shrugged off whenever his manager or anyone else brought it up.</p><p>“Women drink too,” he would say.</p><p>But everyone knew the real reason women (and some men) flocked to the Babu Bar three nights a week. It was to catch a glimpse and get a taste of one Benjamin H. Solo.</p><p>It was nothing unusual on any given Friday or Saturday night for a group of women to sit, watching him work, black locks pulled half-back in a loose bun, wearing a black V-neck t-shirt and dark jeans, his typical work uniform complete with various colors of Converse sneakers depending on the day and his mood. They made him look younger than his 28 years. Tonight he wore red.  </p><p>Bar and restaurant owners across the city tried to recruit Ben for their fancier, more upscale businesses but he always turned them down, even though it would likely mean more money in his pocket.</p><p>“I don’t want to wear suspenders and a fancy apron and tie like some dork,” He would grumble into the neck or hair of his girlfriend, Rey.</p><p>She would pull away from him in the bed they shared in their cozy one bedroom loft, smiling; the tips of her bright green painted nails in his hair. She still had smears of blue and purple paint on her fingers from her day in the studio.</p><p>“And why is that? Maybe we could buy a little house somewhere, plant vegetables in the front yard with all the tips from the rich old ladies and their champagne cocktails?”</p><p>Ben huffed a laugh into her neck, seeking her skin again. They were sharing a pillow. His large hand came up to rest on the side of her face.</p><p>“And a puppy too?”  </p><p>Rey nodded. “Oh, <em>absolutely</em>,” she stretched the word as long as she could.</p><p>“Defientley a puppy. And we<em> defientley</em> have to name him Roger.”</p><p>Ben picked his head up off the pillow. “Roger? No way. It’s Benji. Or Milo.”</p><p>Rey actually scoffed. “Milo?! Isn’t that a cat’s name?”</p><p>Ben shook his head, moving his hair back and forth. “It’s adorable is what it is.”</p><p>Rey laughed, head thrown back, hands lightly grasping the soft, then coarse hairs at the back of his head. She loved the combination, the mixed textures.</p><p>“We’ll flip a coin,” she conceded.</p><p>Ben made a noise with his lips that caused Rey laugh all over again.</p><p>“As long as I win,” he teased pulling her on top of him, both arms wound tightly around Rey, criss- crossed on her lower back.</p><p>Rey and Ben had grown up together, even entering Kindergarten the same year, on the same day, assigned to sit next to one another where they shared snacks and fought over which one of them got to use the scented markers. Chubby, greedy fingers, skinned knees and lopsided smiles carried them side by side through grade school all the way through middle school where they pretended to like other people, even going so far as taking another boy or girl to the 8<sup>th</sup> grade dance.</p><p>Ben sulked in the corner through every slow song, leaving his date <em>(Katie, ugh, what a cliché name, he thought even at the time)</em> abandoned, comforted by her friends in the bathroom while he watched Rey slowly sway, hands on shoulders of the school jock while Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis played.</p><p>Ben would always hate that song.</p><p>In High School, something shifted.</p><p> Somehow Ben grew taller. Rey grew bolder.</p><p>They walked one another to class every day, even if their own class was on the other side of the building. Rey went to all of Ben’s basketball games even if they were across town or out of state.</p><p>Ben bought a copy every week of the school paper Rey wrote a column for and always showed up to see her latest piece she had entered into the local art competition, always insisting that she should have won first place. He even bought one of her pieces senior year; a painting of the lake behind his house they had played and swam in as kids. It was there they first learned to swim, Han being an enthusiastic teacher, happy anytime he was in or near water since he retired from the Navy.</p><p>Ben hung the painting in his bedroom until he left for college, taking it with him to his dorm.</p><p>Rey never missed a performance of Ben’s band. She even helped to pick out a name; <em>Princes of Darkness </em>one evening with the band around numerous boxes of pizza and stale beer someone’s Dad had bought for them.  They played together until Ben was 22, going their separate ways to pursue other things; attempts at solo careers, families, graduate degrees.</p><p>Ben and Rey took one another to their junior and senior proms. Ben forced Rey to pose for the corny prom photos with the god awful prince and princess backgrounds the school had set up there, Ben standing behind her, his arms draped over her shoulders and down her arms, the two of them cracking up in both sets of pictures.</p><p>Rey was the first and only person Ben let ride in the first car he ever bought for himself when he turned 16.  He picked her up from work every night from her job at the local ice cream and smoothie shop. She always brought him his favorite even though he complained she was making him fat; a peanut butter or Oreo shake.</p><p>They shared the extra-large shake with one straw as he drove her home, Rey telling him about her shift, Ben listening, laughing at her stories of all the crazy customers that came in. He could tell she especially loved telling him about the ones she liked and would give an extra scoop of ice cream to. He was her captive audience, smoking the cigarettes he kept in the glove compartment of his car that his parents pretended not to know about.</p><p>Ben was who Rey called late at night when she couldn’t sleep but she was tired of studying. He had saved her name in his phone as Chicken Nugget since that had been her favorite food since childhood. There was an emoji of a baby chick beside her name to this day.  </p><p>Their first kiss was in Ben’s car after her shift one night, his hands on the steering wheel. They were parked outside of Rey’s house, her foster parents asleep inside.</p><p>Rey initiated the kiss, grabbing Ben’s face between her hands, her shoulders scrunched close to her body in an effort to pull him in and keep him there.</p><p>Ben reached over without breaking the kiss to turn off the ignition. His entire body sighed with relief at the same time the car switched off.  </p><p>He let Rey kiss him over and over again, opening his mouth to let her taste him, laughing when she pulled away to litter his face, his cheeks, his jawline,  even dipping under his chin with small, loud kisses.</p><p>“Finally,” he breathed.</p><p>That was all he needed to whisper against the soft skin of her neck, causing Rey to laugh, the sweet sound echoing around the inside of the car.</p><p>They graduated, having applied to all of the same colleges, majoring in different things.  Rey was a double major in art and art history, Ben in music performance.</p><p>When they both got into Purdue and the University of Indianapolis, they mutually decided to go to the University of Indianapolis so they could stay together.</p><p>“Why couldn’t we have both gotten into the University of Hawaii?” Ben bemoaned, throwing himself on Rey’s dorm room twin bed after he had helped her move in, his legs hanging off from the knee down.</p><p>She laughed. “Because you would have flunked out in the first semester, that’s why. I would have found you washed up on the beach clinging for dear life to a Mai Tai, crying about being able to pet dolphins, sunburnt from head to toe.”</p><p>Ben picked his head up from her pillow, ears red, sticking out from his thick, black hair. “Hey, no one asked you to know me so well.”</p><p>He looked like a little boy.</p><p>Rey loved him.</p><p>She always had.</p><p>Rey still kept the pink paper heart Ben had made for her in the 2<sup>nd</sup> grade. She had it framed in college to keep it in intact. It hung on the wall on her side of their bed now. Rey could still read Ben’s little kid scrawled hand writing, <strong><em>TO RAY. MAY BEIST FREND.</em></strong> He had drawn the two of them as stick figures, holding hands on a field of bright green grass, a house with a door, two windows, and a chimney puffing out smoke at the top of the hill.  He had even attempted to draw a little brown dog.</p><p>Roger. Benji. Milo.</p><p>Ben served Hux another beer after he had watched him drink another two glasses of water. Satisfied, he slid a new, opened bottle across the bar to his friend.  </p><p>“Phasma is picking you up when she gets off work, right?” Ben snatched another order from the printer.</p><p>Hux looked at the time on his phone. “Yep. She had a late meeting but she’ll be here.” He took a swig from the bottle. “You know she is <em>very</em> busy and <em>very </em>important.”</p><p>Ben nodded, chewing on his bottom lip as he looked over the order he was holding. “That happens when you own your own accounting firm.”</p><p>Hux tried to hide his smile behind his beer bottle as he set about idly peeling off the label with his thumb and pointer finger.</p><p>“Yeah, she is pretty damn great.”</p><p>Hux was saying it aloud but not to Ben. He was in his own world, smiling to himself.</p><p>He blinked, looking up and across the bar, breaking out of his lovesick haze.  </p><p>“Is Rey stopping by?”</p><p>Ben nodded, pulling his phone from the back pocket of his black jeans, sneaking a quick look at the time. His screensaver was a photo of him and Rey when they went to on a last minute vacation to Mexico last fall. They had found a cheap plane and hotel package, booked it, and left a week later buying and packing cheap shorts, tank tops and bathing suits in a hurry.</p><p>“She should be here any minute. Her class at the community college let out at 8.”</p><p>“Wait so she teaches little kids all day, and then teaches adults at night?”</p><p>Ben smiled, shaking his head. “Yeah she does; two nights a week. She loves it. Plus, teaching at the college gives her free use of their studio space and discounts on any other classes she wants to take. The extra money really helps too.”</p><p>Hux shrugged, taking another gulp of beer. “Can’t beat that.”</p><p> Hux watched as Ben began to prepare and make three Moscow Mules, a bottle of vodka in one hand, three small bottles of ginger beer in the other, pouring them into copper mugs from an impressive height. He stirred the concoction with both hands, moving in the same clockwise motion. Finally, he added lime wedges and a sprig of mint to each drink, the bright green leaves sticking up from the icy mugs, Ben placing them on the bar with careful hands.</p><p>“Viola,” he said quietly, almost under his breath as he wiped off the bar where he had been working.</p><p>Hux shook his head. “You make that look so easy.”</p><p>Ben smiled, one side of his lips winding upwards, tugging a dimple into the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“That’s because it is. It’s just measurements, the right kind of liquor and a little bit of embellishment.”</p><p>Hux sighed, looking up at the game on TV he had been effortlessly ignoring.</p><p>“Leave it to Ben Solo to turn a compliment into a math equation.”  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>
  <i>Rey’s face was a mixture of red and gold beneath him, lust and love giddiness glow escaping her skin. She imagined mixing the entire color wheel together to paint a portrait of Ben, black absorbing red, black and white turning grey, red and blue together to make green,  green with yellow to create gold. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Sunshine, daylight, the warmth of Ben’s love spread across her body.</i>
</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ben ordered Rey’s favorite pizza (ham and pepperoni with pineapple and green peppers) from the kitchen and set about making one of her favorite cocktails, The Hotel Georgia, when she texted she was 10 minutes away.</p>
<p>Ben pulled out the ingredients for the drink one by one, placing them on the bar in front of him in order of use.</p>
<p>“Orange flower water?” Phasma made a face. She was sitting beside Hux at the bar, sipping the extra dirty martini Ben always made for her when she stopped by the bar after work or whenever she and Hux they came over to their place for a visit.  </p>
<p>She had turned to face Hux on her barstool, one hand on his leg.</p>
<p>“I’ll never understand our dear Rey.” She sighed.  “That girl is just fine eating sushi or a hot dog from 7-11, but drinks cocktails that require imported goods.”</p>
<p>Ben smirked.</p>
<p>“I may have spoiled her,” he muttered dry shaking the ingredients in a cocktail shaker over his head before adding ice. It created a hollow, muted sound.</p>
<p>Phasma raised her eyebrows over the rim of her glass. “I’ll say. In more ways than one.”</p>
<p>Hux groaned beside her. “I don’t want to talk about my best friend’s sex life in front of him.”</p>
<p>“Okay, we can just do it behind his back like usual.” Phasma quipped.</p>
<p>Ben shot them both a look across the bar.</p>
<p>“I’m not responsible for whatever it is that Rey thinks is appropriate to share with the general public.”  Ben pursed his lips, fighting back a smile. He paused. “Or you, Phas.”</p>
<p>“Same thing,” Hux bemoaned.  </p>
<p>Phasma laughed. “On the contrary, I think you are in every way responsible.”</p>
<p>Hux buried his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth, groaning from some place deep in his chest.</p>
<p>“Can we not…<em>do </em>this, right now people? I’m not drunk enough for this…and I’m pretty done for…”</p>
<p>Phasma rubbed circles between his sharp shoulder blades.</p>
<p>“Sorry, babe.”  She slid her empty martini glass Ben’s way, the tips of her fingers against the bottom of the glass.</p>
<p>“You know I just like teasing our dear friend Benjamin.” Phasma looked his way, one eyebrow set in a playful arch. “He can take it.”</p>
<p>Ben laughed, pouring the last of Rey’s cocktail into a glass.</p>
<p>“Oh don’t blow up his ego any more than it already is. There was a group of women in here a bit ago practically cat calling him while he made their drinks. You should’ve seen them.”</p>
<p>Phasma hummed. “I can only imagine. Ben’s the only reason this dump stays in business.”</p>
<p>Hux rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe he’s my best friend.”</p>
<p> “Rey’s pizza is ready, I’ll be back. Try not to destroy the bar while I’m gone.”</p>
<p>They watched him walk through the swinging door to the kitchen, sharing a look.</p>
<p>Hux sighed, folding his hands on the bar top. “Aren’t you so glad we only met them in college and didn’t have to suffer through the early days of their insufferable obsession?”</p>
<p>Phasma stole a sip from Hux’s beer.  </p>
<p>“Only it’s still happening and now there is no escape.”</p>
<p>Ben came out through the double swinging doors, holding a pizza at the end of his oven mitt just as Rey arrived, bouncing over to the bar, art bag slung over her shoulder, chewing her requisite grape bubble gum, popping it between her back teeth as she smiled, waving to Hux and Phasma.</p>
<p>“Well, hello little one,” Phasma commented, leaning over for a one-arm hug.</p>
<p>Rey laughed, tossing her bag up on the bar, hugging her friend in return.</p>
<p>“What are you two talking about?” She asked, hands on hips, standing behind the bar stool.</p>
<p>“Oh you know the usual. Wall Street. Cure for cancer. You and Ben.”</p>
<p>Rey laughed, full and loud. It echoed throughout the loud bar. “Glad to hear it!”</p>
<p>Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the pizza Ben had just placed in front of her on the bar, smoke rising from the mountains of cheese, the crust thin enough to break with the slightest touch.</p>
<p>It was <em>perfect.</em></p>
<p>“Hey you,” Ben murmured, coming around the bar to pick her up, spinning her around with one arm. He kissed her full on the mouth, bending her body backwards until her head sloped back. He placed her back down on the ground where she stood on her tip toes to lock her arms around his neck.</p>
<p>“I missed you,” he breathed against the top of her head. His hands roamed down to rest on her lower back, fingers spread across the top of her ass in high waist jean shorts.</p>
<p>“Mmm, these are my favorite,” he murmured, running his fingers over the well-worn denim, his mouth against the underside of her ear.  There was a streak of grey paint along one side of her neck and some on her cheek. He noticed red paint shoved under half of her fingernails.</p>
<p>Rey pulled away just a bit. She titled her head to look up at him.</p>
<p>“Now, now none of that, we have company dear,” she patted Ben’s chest, glancing over to where Phasma and Hux were watching them with amused expressions, their elbows propped up on the bar. They both waved with just the tips of their fingers in unison.</p>
<p>“Don’t mind us, we’re just two old fogies sitting here, watching you two love birds fluttering your wings around one another,” Phasma sighed, cupping her chin with her hand.</p>
<p>Rey gently moved Ben around by the shoulder until he was facing them. He didn’t want to stop looking down at her.</p>
<p> Rey leaned her head on Ben’s shoulder, but her eyes were on the dinner, its scent having found its way over to where she stood, waiting for her at the bar.</p>
<p>“I love you guys too…but right now, I’m in a serious, long term, monogamous relationship with that pizza.”</p>
<p>~ ~ ~</p>
<p>Rey sat beside Phasma as she ate, chatting away, a lone string of cheese hanging from her chin at one point. Ben leaned over the bar and took it off with in one swift move. She didn’t even notice, she was so invested, all energy and excitement, in the conversation about adopting a dog.</p>
<p>“So…when are you and Ben going to bite the bullet, take the next step and adopt the dog of your dreams?” Phasma was on her third martini, having just stolen a piece of Rey’s pizza much to her dismay and protesting <em>hey! I was gonna eat that!</em> She frowned, complete with pouty bottom lip, the works, at Ben to order another slice for her which he did, laughing.  </p>
<p>Rey turned to look at Ben who was stacking clean glasses behind the bar. “That is an<em> excellent</em> question, Phas. Why don’t you ask Sir Benjamin why we have yet to do such a thing?”</p>
<p>Ben turned to look at the three inquisitive faces, all watching him closely now, his face full of innocence, eyes wide, and a look of <em>don’t blame me</em> written all over his features.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Don’t play dumb, young man,” Hux said, shaking his head, draining his beer.</p>
<p>“We can get a dog!” Ben protested, looking at Rey, arms out to the side, his symbolic white flag raised. “We can get all the dogs!”</p>
<p>Rey laughed, leaning up from her seat, the bottom of her feet on the bottom rung of the bar stool to pucker her lips at him, landing a kiss square on his cheek with a smack.</p>
<p>Ben blushed, smiling.</p>
<p>“I know, love. The problem is, every time we go to the rescue, you <em>do</em> want all of them. I have to practically drag you out of there.”  </p>
<p>Ben mumbled something under his breath, but he didn’t argue.</p>
<p>~ ~ ~</p>
<p>“What is the name of that fancy pants cocktail you always have Ben make for you?”  Phasma nodded down the glass Rey was holding that Ben had just put down in front of her.</p>
<p>The bar was finally clearing out, Ben announcing last call at the top of his lungs, hands cupped against the sides of his mouth. If people stuck around he would turn the lights on high inside the bar and kill the music until they got the hint. Only one time did he have to physically carry out a guy (a <em>dude bro</em>, Rey had called him) who refused to leave. He had tossed him over his shoulder and dumped him by the lamp post outside the bar.</p>
<p>Rey held the glass up for Phasma to take a closer look at.</p>
<p>“It’s called The Hotel Georgia and it is <em>de-light-ful</em>.” Rey did an actual chef’s kiss in the air, fingers and all. “It has almond syrup in it and it tastes just like an almond croissant. Or an orange Starburst. I haven’t decided yet.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? Maybe I’ll try one.”</p>
<p>Hux snorted. “Good luck, he only makes those for his little Rey of sunshine.”</p>
<p>“How do you know?” Phasma nudged her boyfriend in the shoulder.</p>
<p>“Because I’ve asked him to make me one! Loads of times!”  </p>
<p>Phasma and Rey laughed at the top of their lungs.</p>
<p>~ ~ ~</p>
<p>The bar was finally empty, Ben having locked the doors, and turned off all the lights except for the white and red fairy lights decorating the bar top and the wall behind it. Hux and Phasma were drunk, slow dancing to a Purple Rain by Prince. Ben had put on his own playlist now, and agreed to hit shuffle once three Nine Inch Nails songs in a row played.</p>
<p>Rey sat atop the bar; downing her beloved Hotel Georgia, egg white touching the tip of her nose. It looked like snow. Her legs danged off the side of the bar, moving along to the beat.</p>
<p>Ben had finished closing at last, having refilled all of bottles, cleaned and restocked the glasses and wiped down everything, totaling up the register quickly.  He had always been great at math. It infuriated Rey how she could come up with a number in seconds while she was still counting on her fingers.</p>
<p>Now he worked his way around the bar, moving between her legs, exhaustion leaving his body as soon as he knew work was over.</p>
<p>Ben put his hands on her knees, soft and shiny from sunscreen she had put on earlier on the walk over. He leaned into her body, mouth on her neck. She smelled like sunshine and coconut.</p>
<p>He leaned over to lick the egg white from her nose with the tip of his tongue.</p>
<p>“I’m a little tipsy my love,” She hiccupped into his ear, locking her feet behind his knees, bringing him in closer.</p>
<p>Ben huffed out a laugh against her cheek, his mouth all pointed teeth, his cheeks alight with dimples.</p>
<p>“Just a little?”</p>
<p>Rey nodded, very serious, forehead against Ben’s. She draped her arms over his shoulders.</p>
<p>“I think I love you, Benjamin Solo.”  Her voice was so matter of fact; it took everything Ben had not to crack up.</p>
<p>“Is that so?” He hummed, mouth hovering on her forehead now.</p>
<p>Rey nodded hard, pulling him down into a kiss, her hands on either side of his face, pulling him closer and closer and closer, opening her mouth for his tongue. He could barely breathe, could hardly move, her grip on him was tiny but mighty.</p>
<p>She tasted like almonds and oranges. Just like her drink.</p>
<p>“And do you know what?” She asked, pulling away, one hand on his chest now. Ben didn’t answer, he just stared at her lips, blossom pink and wet.</p>
<p>“What?” He asked. His voice was low, hands on her hips. He pulled up the bottom of her white t-shirt, just enough, letting his hands rest against her damp, bare skin. The bar was warm with only the fans running over head. There wasn’t an inch of space between them.</p>
<p>Rey took a deep breath, looking at the ceiling with her wide eyes before narrowing her gaze on him and only him. She pointed a single finger against his chest, rock hard and solid.</p>
<p>“Not only do I love you, but I <em>like </em>you.”</p>
<p>Ben laughed. Something warm, something good settled in at the base of his spine.</p>
<p> He buried himself in the space between Rey’s ear and neck. He was content to stand there forever, to let the walls of the bar fall down around them and sink beneath the Earth if it meant he could stay right there, wrapped up against her, feeling protected by her love and affection.</p>
<p>It wasn’t often Ben felt protected by anyone.</p>
<p> He had always been big and imposing, forcing the clumsiness out of his body on the basketball team his freshmen year of High School, running every day to keep his endless arms and legs and muscles in shape and in check. He wanted to get to know them, to tame and control the distorted, overgrown wildness that existed beneath his skin.</p>
<p>He had often felt like a stranger in his body. Bigger in size than everyone around him, but pulled inward by something unseen that made him feel unsure, small.</p>
<p>He had flirted with darkness, had done the occasional drug in college or on tour, had made some shitty choices involving his health and mental well-being, but there was Rey, who always pulled him back to the surface, to who he was. She always reminded him of what he really wanted.</p>
<p>
  <em>But Rey. </em>
</p>
<p>Rey had always told him how cute he was, how attractive, how handsome. She loved his long nose and his big ears, and the veins in his hands. She said he looked cute even in running shorts that he thought were either too long or too short and never fit quite right.</p>
<p>She told him how funny he was even when he told the same joke more than once. She listened to him talk about his family even when it was sad or boring or when he was angry enough to throw his favorite guitar, smashing it to pieces against his bedroom wall.</p>
<p>Rey liked everything about him, wanted to know about things even if they seemed silly or meaningless or not that important to him. She told him time and time again, ever since they had been old enough to tell the other how they <em>really</em> felt, even before their first kiss that night in his car, that she just wanted…<em>him.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Just you, just Ben. That’s it for me, silly. </em>
</p>
<p>Rey thought he was perfect just the way he was. She looked out for him, as weird as that sounded. She kept him on track, in-balance.</p>
<p>Ben would teeter off the edge of safety, of sanity and calm without her. He knew this about himself. He knew his demons well. He also knew she kept them at bay.</p>
<p>Rey said he didn’t give himself enough credit. He would laugh at such a crazy statement but she meant it.</p>
<p>And frankly, people were scared of her.</p>
<p>No one messed with Ben when Rey was around. Her sharp tongue and ability to call everyone who wronged him a <em>cock sucking son of a bitch</em> as well as her assertiveness, her ability to cut you down and cut you off and out of her life in an instant if you crossed Ben or upset him were lethal and well-known.</p>
<p>No one messed with Rey because they usually had functioning eyes and saw what Ben Solo looked like.</p>
<p>Ben rubbed his nose against hers, his chest rumbling with longing and love. His hands dipped beneath her shorts to tug and rub at her ass as far as he could reach. She scooted up on the bar to allow more space for him to roam.</p>
<p>“Well, I’m glad someone does,”  He teased, kissing her one last time on the lips, long and slow before she could think of a witty comeback.</p>
<p>“Heyyyy,” she dragged the word out in protest to what he said, but Ben had her bottom lip between his teeth and he was smiling. All was forgiven.</p>
<p>“Can I take you home now?” Ben whispered, his hands wandering up her back beneath her shirt, his fingers tugging on the light blue bra he had watched her put on that morning.   </p>
<p>Rey nodded. Her body was light and hot under his touch.</p>
<p>“Yes, please.”  </p>
<p>“Mmm.”   Ben stood up straight, rubbing long lines up and down her smooth back.</p>
<p>“If only Hux and Phasma weren’t here…” Rey said in a sing-song voice.</p>
<p>Ben smiled.</p>
<p>“We can kick them out. Then the place will be all ours.”</p>
<p>Rey shook her head, dragging a nail across the thin fabric of his t-shirt.</p>
<p>“Not this time. Let’s go home.”</p>
<p>And so they did, Ben closing down and locking up the bar for the night, Hux and Phasma taking a Lyft home. Ben and Rey waited with them on the curb until it arrived, taking off for the bus stop as soon as they pulled away, Rey high up on Ben’s shoulders, both laughing, Rey reaching, pulling down the bottom of the sky, tugging the stars closer with her joy.</p>
<p>~ ~ ~</p>
<p>Their loft was unique in its design—truly a space meant for an artist and her musician. It had been a steal since it wasn’t the most up to date in terms of its bathroom and kitchen, its hard wood floors creaking every other step, but Rey and Ben didn’t care.</p>
<p>It was perfect for them.</p>
<p>The ceilings were high, the windows were large; the bath tub was deep (even if it slightly slanted downward—Ben lovingly referred to it as their <em>slow moving waterfall</em>). There was plenty of room for Rey’s easels and art supplies, her completed and nearly-there paintings, collages, other works of arts propped up against and hanging on every free inch of wall space there was. She even painted their living room a sunny yellow, their kitchen a bright green, their bedroom a shade of royal blue.</p>
<p>Ben loved living inside her box of paints.</p>
<p>They entertained friends in this loft, created masterpieces and failures in art and cooking. They pushed their couch (from a thrift store, naturally) back against the wall so that Rey could paint, so that Rey could force Ben to dance in the center of the big, empty space when they were both too tipsy to care.</p>
<p>Ben’s Uncle’s vintage record player sat in the corner of the living room, always with something beneath the needle. There was always music. Ben’s collection of guitars lined the walls alongside Rey’s art.</p>
<p>Their kitchen was small but well stocked with the best beer, a top shelf, curated collection of liquor (naturally) as well. Ben took over use of two of the cabinets for their collection. He called it their <em>expanded bar.</em></p>
<p>It was theirs, all of it. That was all that mattered.</p>
<p>Tonight Ben carried Rey inside, legs around his waist, head against his shoulder, Ben kicking the door closed behind them, keys tossed on the foyer table they had painted sky blue two summers ago in a friend’s backyard.</p>
<p>Ben took her to bed, placing her down carefully on their unmade bed, all flushed cheeks and racing heart. He leaned over her, oversized hands locked on her shoulders, anchoring them both.</p>
<p>“Hey you,” Ben whispered, his face broken apart with a smile. He nudged beneath her chin, his lips a light touch along her jawline.</p>
<p>Rey’s face was a mixture of red and gold beneath him, lust and love giddiness glow escaping her skin. She imagined mixing the entire color wheel together to paint a portrait of Ben, black absorbing red, black and white turning grey, red and blue together to make green,  green with yellow to create gold.</p>
<p>Sunshine, daylight, the warmth of Ben’s love spread across her body.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Rey’s voice feather light on his jaw, feeling herself smile in return.</p>
<p>Ben’s gentle hands spread her legs open, making room for him, his careful, clumsy fingers on the button of her shorts, concentrating so carefully she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out of sheer delight.</p>
<p>She was high knowing she belonged to him. Ben held onto the tail of her kite, holding on tight during a storm, pulling her near when she was in danger of flying away but otherwise content to watch her sail in the clouds.</p>
<p>Rey let herself be stripped bare for him, let his mouth roam across the flat and sloped planes of her body. He took his time, large hands on her breasts, on her thighs, cupping her where she was wet for him, scooping her up; his arms beneath her back and the bed to pull her up against his chest where they told jokes and shared secrets, laughing into one another’s hair.</p>
<p>Ben overtook her body in size and scope, casting a shadow along the shape of her in their bed. He took his time, working his fingers inside her, feeling, watching her body keen and stretch beneath him, her hands tugging on his arms, his shoulders, the ends of his hair for him to come closer, to give her more.</p>
<p>He was careful working his way inside of her, shifting his body, his hips, in a way that suited her best, her hands small and powerful on his skin, asking for more with her body, her words, pulling him in deeper.</p>
<p>Ben nodded, understanding.</p>
<p>Rey kept reaching, grasping, holding onto him, in any way he was willing to give of himself.</p>
<p>There were a hundred sonnets and mad ramblings on the tips of their tongues, tucked tight into their bodies, almost said to the other. The space around them was crowded with their sensations, the heat of the here and now, the coolness of comfort and safety after it was over.</p>
<p>Rey pulled Ben against her chest, letting him breathe heavy, mouth open, grateful.</p>
<p>She saw a different skylight now, a horizon dripping with blue and red mixed, pride of color forgotten to illuminate the atmosphere in a purple mist.</p>
<p>~ ~ ~</p>
<p>“Come on, Benji, that’s it!” Rey cheered, clapping her hands, grinning at the overjoyed pit bull, terrier mix running their way at full speed across the dog park.</p>
<p>Ben stood beside her, holding an extra-large iced latte in one hand, a neon green leash in the other. He smiled behind his aviator sunglasses.</p>
<p>“He’s getting so good at this, don’t you think?” Rey asked over his shoulder, Benji jumping up into her arms, mouth full of tennis ball.</p>
<p>Ben laughed.</p>
<p>“He is. He’s a good boy.”</p>
<p>He knelt down to take the dog’s head in his hands, his body wiggling beneath Ben’s pats, pleased to be standing between the two of them. He looked back and forth, tongue out and tail wagging, ready for whatever adventure was next.</p>
<p>Rey reached over, taking the latte from Ben’s hand, replacing it with her own.</p>
<p>“Milkshake? On me?” She asked, squinting up at the sun.</p>
<p>Ben looked down at her, his lips curling up on one side, comfortable mischief pulsing through his veins as he attached Benji’s leash to his collar.</p>
<p>“Only if it’s peanut butter.”</p>
<p>Rey nodded. “Deal.”</p>
<p>Benji ran ahead of them as far as the leash would carry him as they exited the dog park, hands clasped, walking at first until an excited restlessness took over. Then they ran, chasing after Benji, feet beating the pavement under them like quiet thunder.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Here's the recipe for Rey's favorite drink, The Hotel Georgia! https://cocktailpartyapp.com/drinks/hotel-georgia/</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>